OnTarget Scoring for ARA

Over the last 18 months OnTarget has worked with the Professional Shooting League to develop a program that will calculate the scores their competition benchrest targets. The resulting program was used successfully at all five PSL matches during 2010. Competitor acceptance was very good due to the accuracy and consistency of the scoring results. Numerous match directors have asked when the scoring program would become available for other benchrest targets.

I am pleased to announce that for the last few months OnTarget Software has been working with the American Rimfire Association on a new program that will be used to scan and score the targets used in ARA benchrest competitions. The OnTarget ARA Scoring System will be tested at several ARA matches between now and the end of the year and is scheduled for release prior to the 2011 season.

Here's a short overview of the operation of the scoring system:
- Each target has a bar code label attached that contains the competitor and target numbers.
- At the end of each relay the targets are collected and scanned into the scoring program.
- The program reads the bar code, then locates the center of the bulls eye and bullet hole for each of the 25 bulls on the target.
- A score is calculated for each bull. The program will flag any bulls that need to be manually checked.
- The scorer reviews the scores, plugs any holes that are flagged, and finalizes the scores.
- The program then calculates the final score, saves the target file, prints a detailed score sheet, and exports the data for use in the ARA Benchrest Scoring Program spreadsheet.

The scoring software saves time by automating much of the scoring process. The scorer only needs to look closely at the bulls that have been flagged for manual scoring. Potential errors in adding up total scores and typos when entering data into spreadsheets are eliminated.

If you have any questions about this new program please send an email to: jeff@ontargetshooting.com.

- Jeff